Latch for furniture-drawers.



A. T. wuss.

I LATCH FOR FURNITURE DRAWERS.

I APFLICATION FILED DEC.18| 1913- 1 ,223,455. Patented Apr.'24, 1917.

l'mowtkoz @WZJW UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT T. WEISS, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO YAWMAN & ERIBE MANU- FACTURING COMPANY, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

LATCH FOR FURNITURE-DRAWERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 24, 1917.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT T. Wares, of Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Latches for Furniture-Drawers;' and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of'the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, form-.

ing a part of this specification, and to the reference-numerals marked thereon.

My present invention relates to furniture and more particularly to drawers and casings therefor, such as are employed in filing cabinets for office use and it has for its object to provide a-simple, neat and efficient latch for holding the drawer in closed position, the improvements being directed in part toward so'arranging the latch thatit will in no way disfi ure nor change the external appearance 0 the drawer. A further object of the invention is to provide a latch construction particularly adapted for use in fireproof metallic furniture having hollow walls, the invention contemplating the use of such a wall at the front of a drawer for housing the latch mechanism. To these and other ends the invention consists in certain improvements and combinations of parts all as will be hereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed out in the claims at the ,end of the specification.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a central vertical section through the front wall of a drawer and adjacent portions of its casing, the same being constructed in accordance with and illustrating one embodiment of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the lining plate. of the drawer wall, the plate being viewed from the rear; Fig. 3 is a perspective view from the front of the forward portion of the drawer body, and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view from the rear of the front plate of the drawer wall with which the body portion of Fig. 3 is interlocked.

Similar reference numerals throughout the several figures indicate the same parts.

In fireproof furniture it is articularly desirable t at means he provi ed for locking the drawers'of a cabinet in closed position as the warping effects of heat or sagging floors are aptto cause them to open by gravity and expose the contents.

In the present instance, I have illustrated my invention as embodied in a fireproof drawer of the general construction described and claimed in my companion application Serial No. 807,488, filed December 18, 1913, and which may comprise a front'wall 1, a bottom wall 2 and side walls 3. The front wall 1 is holupwardly turned ofl'set flange 8 at the top of the lining plate interlocks with and be neath the corresponding flange on the front plate, but the two plates are otherwise fastened and held together by bolts 9 that may be formed from the ends of a preferably horizontally disposed handle bar or drawer pull 10 located on the outside of the wall in the usual position. The lining plate is preferably embossed at 11 to take the attachment of these bolts.

The drawer casing, indicated generally at 12, comprises top and bottom cross pieces 13 and 14 constituted in the present instance by channel irons, the lower side of the upper piece 13 at the front of the chamber being provided with an aperture 15 adjacent to the bottom or connecting ortion 16 of the channel which latter acts in the capacity of a keeper plate, as will hereinafter appear.

I Housed within the hollow front wall 1 of the drawer is a vertically movable latch bolt 17 carried onthe lining plate 5 in a guide that I prefer to form by striking up offset lugs or ears 18 from the material of the plate.

of the wall and drawer and not exposed to tending operating member 19 that projects through a slot 20 in the front plate 4 and becomes accessible at a pointadjacent to the handle or pull 10 where it may be conveniently manipulated to release the latch by There is no objection to thus mutilating the lining plate, as it is on the 1ns1de the same hand that is used to open the drawer and with practically the same movement. In the present instance the latch is released by downward pressure on the operating member against the tension of a spring 21, the lower end of which spring is connected tothe operating member while the other end is fastened to a hook .22, formed by an extension of one of the guiding ears 18.

At its upper end the bolt passes through a slot or opening 23 in the lining plate 5 that is located adjacent to the oflfset upper flan e 8 thereof and the slot may, in fact, continue through the flange to facilitate assembling the bolt. Beyond the slot the latter is bent rearwardly at 24 and thence upwardly and forwardly at 25. The portion 25 enters the aperture 15 when the drawer is closed and serves as a locking part which engages with the keeper 16 on the casing and it will be noticed that the shape of this locking part constitutes the latch an automatic one under the influence of its spring 21.

I claim as my invention:

1. The combination with a drawer casing provided with a keeper on one wall thereof and a drawer in said chamber having a hollow front wall composed of a front plate provided with a slot and a lining plate spaced therefrom and provided with offset ears struck up from the material of the lining plate to constitute a guide, of a latch bolt housed within said wall and supported .slot in the front plate to the exterior of the front wall and mounted on the lining 1 in the said guide on the lining plate to move vertically into and out of cooperation with the keeper on the casing as a locking means, an operating member for the latch bolt projecting forwardly therefrom through the drawer and a spring for returning the latch bolt having one end connected to the operating member and the other to one of the guiding ears on the lining plate.

2. The combination with a drawer casing provided with a keeper on one wall thereofand a drawer in said chamber having a hollow front wall composed of a front plate havin an inwardly and thence downwardly turne flange and a lining plate arranged in spaced'relation to the front plate and having an ofl'set flange interlocked beneath that on the front plate and a slot adjacent to said flange, of a latch .bolt housed within the plate to extend through its slot. in paralle sm to but exteriorly of its oflset flange, said bolt being movable as a lockin means into and out of cooperation with t e keeper on the casing.

ALBERT T. WEISS. Witnesses:

. WALTER B. PAYNE,

RUSSELL B. GRIFFITH. 

